Senate panel: Real Estate Authority termed imperative for allottees’ rights

Standing Committee on CADD seeks details of recruitment, tenders at Polyclinic

ISLAMABAD: A panel of senators has stressed the importance of swiftly setting up a Real Estate Authority in the federal capital to help protect the rights of land allottees.

This was stated in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Capital Administration was held under the chair of Senator Dr Ashok Kumar at the Parliament House on Monday.

During the meeting, Senator Mohsin Aziz of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf  (PTI) reviewed the Real Estate Bill and asserted that establishment of a Real Estate Authority was imperative to protect allottees’ rights.

To elaborate his point, he said that residents of the capital have suffered numerous housing scams at the hands of absconders who buy just 20 per cent of the land and collect payments worth many times that.

He further noted the inordinate delays in clearing the bill, which has been under discussion in the committee since August 2017, and urged that the panel’s members take a decision on it. At this, the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Secretary Saqib Aziz stated that there were a number of stakeholders involved including the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration.

To make any decision on the draft bill, Aziz asserted that the committee must be provided with complete details of stakeholders after consulting with the law m.

The committee recommended that a report in this regard is submitted within 15 days.

Polyclinic issues

Federal Government Poly Clinic (Polyclinic) Executive Director Dr Shahid Hanif briefed the committee about staffing issues at the hospital.

He said that at the moment, three outpatient department shifts work around the clock while providing medical care to 7,000 – 9,000 patients at the hospital. All the while, Dr Hanif said, they also have to cater to mobile cover requests for national and international dignitaries.

The Poly Clinic chief said that they have been managing this despite having a staffing shortfall with 362 positions vacant. He revealed that an issue of seniority had arisen and that soon a departmental placement committee (DPC) will be summoned to resolve the issue. Dr Hanif further stated that 46 new posts will be created in the hospital. The committee sought details of all the promotions and recruitments in the hospital.

Senators also took notice of the odd location of the emergency room, which is situated on the other side of the road from the main hospital, making it extremely inconvenient to transfer patients to the wards.

Senator Kulsoom Parveen of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) raised the issue of using sub-standard medical paraphernalia at the hospital.

Senator Shafiq Tareen seconded Senator Parveen’s views and said that it was imperative that the quality of medicines supplied to the hospital are reviewed. He also demanded measures to tackle truancy of doctors.

While responding to a question on the expansion of the hospital by Dr Kumar, Aziz explained that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had issued a stay order on the Argentina Park.

Gun and Country Club

Deliberating over the Gun and Country Club, which the apex court last month declared as illegal, Senator Azam Khan Swati of the PTI said that a bill regarding the club has been waiting for the committee to review it for a very long time.

He was of the opinion that for smooth operations of the club, it was imperative that the dictatorship there ends. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2018.